Fractal sets serve as excellent models in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and other fields. However, the actual applications of these fascinating models are often unknown even to specialists in fractal theories. The communication of the most recent results utilising fractal concepts in experimental and industrial engineering research was thus a major challenge discussed in the above conference.The resulting proceedings are organised around five main themes: Materials Processing, Flow, Natural Sciences, Signal and Image Analysis and Mathematical Methods. Almost 50 papers are included in this volume. Besides the classical topics, the book also introduces an important session on Fractal Signal and Image Analysis, a subject which is rapidly gaining recognition in computer science and engineering for its promising industrial applications.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in Second Generation Image and Video Coding Techniques. These techniques introduce new concepts from image analysis that greatly improve the performance of the coding schemes for very high compression. This interest has been further emphasized by the future MPEG 4 standard. Second generation image and video coding techniques are the ensemble of approaches proposing new and more efficient image representations than the conventional canonical form. As a consequence, the human visual system becomes a fundamental part of the encoding/decoding chain. More insight to distinguish between first and second generation can be gained if it is noticed that image and video coding is basically carried out in two steps. First, image data are converted into a sequence of messages and, second, code words are assigned to the messages. Methods of the first generation put the emphasis on the second step, whereas methods of the second generation put it on the first step and use available results for the second step. As a result of including the human visual system, second generation can be also seen as an approach of seeing the image composed by different entities called objects. This implies that the image or sequence of images have first to be analyzed and/or segmented in order to find the entities. It is in this context that we have selected in this book three main approaches as second generation video coding techniques: Segmentation-based schemes Model Based Schemes Fractal Based Schemes £/LIST£ Video Coding: The Second Generation Approach is an important introduction to the new coding techniques for video. As such, all researchers, students and practitioners working in image processing will find this book of interest.

This volume is a collection of the papers presented at the International Conference on Fractal Concepts and the Application of Chaos in Chemical Engineering Problems. The book provides a detailed description of the current research on the application of fractal concepts, nonlinear dynamics and disordered systems in chemical engineering, with emphasis on interdisciplinary connections with related fields, such as control theory of nonlinear systems, dynamic theory of fractals, transport theory and physical chemistry of heterogeneous materials.

Owing to the rapid emergence and growth of techniques in the engineering application of fractals, it has become necessary to gather the most recent advances on a regular basis. This book is a continuation of the first volume - published in 1997 - but contains interesting developments. A major point is that mathematics has become more and more involved in the definition and use of fractal models. It seems that the time of the qualitative observation of fractal phenomena has gone. Now the main models are strongly based upon theoretical arguments. Fractals: Theory and Applications in Engineering is a multidisciplinary book which should interest every scientist working in areas connected to fractals.